Date:18/04/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/04/18/stories/2007041801541800.htm

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Business

GM rolls out Chevrolet Spark

Special Correspondent

Plans to source components worth $1 b annually

Car is priced in the Rs. 3.09-3.89 lakh range

Company setting up a plant at Talegaon, Maharashtra

PHOTO: S. SUBRAMANIUM

FOR MASS MARKET: Rick Wagoner, Chairman and CEO, General Motors Corp, launching Chevrolet Spark in New Delhi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: With an ambition of turning India into a potential "future candidate" for housing the global manufacturing hub, the world's largest car maker General Motors plans to source components worth $1 billion annually from the country in the next four-five years.

The company on Thursday rolled out its cute looking hatchback Chevrolet Spark in India with a starting price of Rs. 3.09 lakh in the small car segment.

The new entry threatens to intensify the price war in the small car segment, as Spark is nearly Rs. 12,000 cheaper than its closest competitor Maruti Suzuki's Zen Estilo. Chevrolet Spark, equipped with a 1,000cc petrol engine, will be available in four models. The new offerings are priced in the Rs. 3.09-3.89 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) range.

On the company's future plans, GM Chairman and CEO, Rick Wagoner, said "Our supply base has been expanding. In future, you could see exports out of India... we would probably need extra capacity and India would be a candidate."

Currently shutting down plants in North America, he said the company was focusing more on fully leveraging the emerging high-quality, low cost supply base in India for its future strategy.

GM Asia Pacific President, D. Nick Reilly, said the company planned to increase sourcing from India "over the next 4-5 years to $1 billion annually".

Mr. Wagoner, who earlier had a meeting with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, foresaw India as the second fastest growing car market in the next decade.

The company is already in the process of ramping up capacity in India with a second greenfield plant being set up at Talegaon in Maharashtra at an investment of $300 million. The new plant will more than double GM's production capacity in India to 2.25 lakh units.

He said the company had set up an Indian Science Lab in Bangalore, one of the only seven such GM R&D facilities in the world.